This local company's technology making hospitals safer

Seth Freedman, president of IntelligentM, holds a wristband that monitors health care workers' hygiene compliance. Developed by the Sarasota-based company, the technology measures hand washing and sanitizer use by gauging application techniques such as the vigor and length of cleaning times.

Published: Monday, January 13, 2014 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, January 12, 2014 at 11:14 p.m.

SARASOTA - The IntelligentM hand hygiene-monitoring system is a little like Big Brother on a mission of mercy, its goal being to encourage proper hand washing so health care workers do not accidentally infect patients.

Sarasota-based IntelligentM's digital monitoring system — anchored by wristwatch-sized devices that tracks workers' hand washing, from frequency to duration — comes at a time when hospitals and other health care facilities are facing new mandates and potential financial penalties pushing them to control infections.

The new rules came about because health care-associated infections — or HAIs, in health care-industry parlance — cost $35 billion to $45 billion a year in the United States alone.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains that following proper hand hygiene protocol is “the single most important way to avoid spreading infection.”

To help reduce the numbers of HAIs and meet the new mandates, IntelligentM has developed an electronic system that enables health care institutions to monitor hand washing and sanitizing via a computer database.

IntelligentM's system is so precise that hospitals can keep tabs on individual workers or entire wings, and scour data that could significantly boost infection controls.

“This allows you to see who is going through the motions and who is doing it right,” said Caroline Popper, president of Popper and Co. LLC, who is working with IntelligentM to craft its market strategy.

“They can see that some people are washing their hands all the time — others, not at all.”

Seth Freedman, IntelligentM's president and one of its three employees, said the 4-year-old company's technology is intended to be more than a tool.

“We are trying to modify behavior,” said Freedman, an entrepreneur with experience in the manufacturing and technology industries who founded IntelligentM with Dr. Andrew Fine, a Sarasota neurosurgeon, and Dave Mullinix, an electrical engineer with 30 years of experience in creating business-to-business products.

To date, the company counts eight health care institutions as clients.

IntelligentM's hygiene program comes as technology, like the kind in smartphones, has become more accessible and affordable.

Simultaneously, governments worldwide are beginning to penalize hospitals when patients contract potentially deadly infections while in their care.

In the U.S., hospitals once did a somewhat lucrative Medicare business treating patients who contracted infections during hospital stays, were discharged and then re-admitted — for treatment of the infection they got while in the hospital.

In all, 1.7 million new health care-acquired infections occurred annually, the Centers for Disease Control estimates.

Of those, about 100,000 patients died, either from the infection itself or complications stemming from it.

But under the Affordable Care Act, Medicare has begun re-evaluating hospital readmissions.

If a flurry of patients are readmitted within any 30-day period, Medicare will now hold back a percentage of its reimbursement to health care providers.

In 2014, the percentage held back will be 2 percent. In October 2015 the amount increases to 3 percent.

Medicare had begun monitoring heart-related readmissions and those tied to pneumonia. But last fiscal year the agency added surgical site infections stemming from electronic cardiac device installations to its list of readmissions subject to withholding reimbursements.

“This is a key driver, maintaining their reimbursement levels,” said Stephanie Bertschy, director of marketing at Versus Technology Inc., a Michigan-based company that also provides health care monitoring equipment.

“You are talking billions of dollars.”

The IntelligentM system combines radio frequency identification and motion detection with Bluetooth wireless technology — all in a device that looks like, and is worn like, a wristwatch.

Workers wearing the device will feel it gently buzz three times if they try to perform care, such as inserting an IV tube in a patient's arm, without washing their hands first.

IntelligentM's waterproof device also measures how long and how vigorously care givers wash their hands, thanks to a series of stickers with microchips installed on soap or foam dispensers, the doorways to patients' rooms and even on medical equipment.

If the hand washing is done properly, the IntelligentM bracelet buzzes once. If the washing is deemed inadequate, it buzzes three times.

The company's device can even differentiate between foam sanitizer dispensers and soap dispensers and measure hand motion and duration accordingly.

When the bracelets are removed at the end of a shift and placed in a charger, they automatically download data and store it on a remote computer run by IntelligentM for use by the hospital.

Hospitals typically pay between $75,000 and $100,000 to obtain IntelligentM's equipment and use its service, Freedman said.

Medicare is not the only health care overseer paying attention to infections and their costs.

The United Kingdom's government-run health care system also now imposes penalties for hospitals that exceed established quotas for HAIs.

“These types of financial pain points are driving hospitals to look at technology like IntelligentM's to increase hand hygiene compliance, which is the No. 1 way to reduce health care-acquired infections,” Freedman said.

IntelligentM is in talks with hospitals in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and as far away as Asia.

Versus, the other company that monitors health care hygiene, started with an electronic labeling system used in more than 700 health care institutions, largely to keep track of where patients and care givers are.

Two years ago, however, Versus added the hand-washing monitoring system through a partnership with Georgia-Pacific Corp.

Its system is somewhat different than IntelligentM's, in that its sensors mainly connect worker badges to soap and foam dispensers and transmit data to a central database.

“Most hospitals believe their hand hygiene is at the 90 percent level, when in fact, it is more in the 30 to 40 percent level,” Versus' Bertschy said.

The current Versus hand-washing monitor does not know how well workers wash their hands, but it will remind them if they haven't checked in at a soap dispenser at the appropriate time.

“It is really about saving lives, when you get down to it,” Bertschy said. “To make sure my grandmother, who went in for one procedure, that she doesn't get some type of infection that prevents her from coming home to celebrate another birthday.”

<p><em>SARASOTA</em> - The IntelligentM hand hygiene-monitoring system is a little like Big Brother on a mission of mercy, its goal being to encourage proper hand washing so health care workers do not accidentally infect patients.</p><p>Sarasota-based IntelligentM's digital monitoring system — anchored by wristwatch-sized devices that tracks workers' hand washing, from frequency to duration — comes at a time when hospitals and other health care facilities are facing new mandates and potential financial penalties pushing them to control infections.</p><p>The new rules came about because health care-associated infections — or HAIs, in health care-industry parlance — cost $35 billion to $45 billion a year in the United States alone.</p><p>The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains that following proper hand hygiene protocol is “the single most important way to avoid spreading infection.”</p><p>To help reduce the numbers of HAIs and meet the new mandates, IntelligentM has developed an electronic system that enables health care institutions to monitor hand washing and sanitizing via a computer database.</p><p>IntelligentM's system is so precise that hospitals can keep tabs on individual workers or entire wings, and scour data that could significantly boost infection controls.</p><p>“This allows you to see who is going through the motions and who is doing it right,” said Caroline Popper, president of Popper and Co. LLC, who is working with IntelligentM to craft its market strategy.</p><p>“They can see that some people are washing their hands all the time — others, not at all.”</p><p>Seth Freedman, IntelligentM's president and one of its three employees, said the 4-year-old company's technology is intended to be more than a tool.</p><p>“We are trying to modify behavior,” said Freedman, an entrepreneur with experience in the manufacturing and technology industries who founded IntelligentM with Dr. Andrew Fine, a Sarasota neurosurgeon, and Dave Mullinix, an electrical engineer with 30 years of experience in creating business-to-business products.</p><p>To date, the company counts eight health care institutions as clients.</p><p>IntelligentM's hygiene program comes as technology, like the kind in smartphones, has become more accessible and affordable.</p><p>Simultaneously, governments worldwide are beginning to penalize hospitals when patients contract potentially deadly infections while in their care.</p><p>In the U.S., hospitals once did a somewhat lucrative Medicare business treating patients who contracted infections during hospital stays, were discharged and then re-admitted — for treatment of the infection they got while in the hospital.</p><p>In all, 1.7 million new health care-acquired infections occurred annually, the Centers for Disease Control estimates.</p><p>Of those, about 100,000 patients died, either from the infection itself or complications stemming from it.</p><p>But under the Affordable Care Act, Medicare has begun re-evaluating hospital readmissions.</p><p>If a flurry of patients are readmitted within any 30-day period, Medicare will now hold back a percentage of its reimbursement to health care providers.</p><p>In 2014, the percentage held back will be 2 percent. In October 2015 the amount increases to 3 percent.</p><p>Medicare had begun monitoring heart-related readmissions and those tied to pneumonia. But last fiscal year the agency added surgical site infections stemming from electronic cardiac device installations to its list of readmissions subject to withholding reimbursements.</p><p>Health care experts say that, for hospitals, controlling infections could fall to their bottom lines.</p><p>“This is a key driver, maintaining their reimbursement levels,” said Stephanie Bertschy, director of marketing at Versus Technology Inc., a Michigan-based company that also provides health care monitoring equipment.</p><p>“You are talking billions of dollars.”</p><p>The IntelligentM system combines radio frequency identification and motion detection with Bluetooth wireless technology — all in a device that looks like, and is worn like, a wristwatch.</p><p>Workers wearing the device will feel it gently buzz three times if they try to perform care, such as inserting an IV tube in a patient's arm, without washing their hands first.</p><p>IntelligentM's waterproof device also measures how long and how vigorously care givers wash their hands, thanks to a series of stickers with microchips installed on soap or foam dispensers, the doorways to patients' rooms and even on medical equipment.</p><p>If the hand washing is done properly, the IntelligentM bracelet buzzes once. If the washing is deemed inadequate, it buzzes three times.</p><p>The company's device can even differentiate between foam sanitizer dispensers and soap dispensers and measure hand motion and duration accordingly.</p><p>When the bracelets are removed at the end of a shift and placed in a charger, they automatically download data and store it on a remote computer run by IntelligentM for use by the hospital.</p><p>Hospitals typically pay between $75,000 and $100,000 to obtain IntelligentM's equipment and use its service, Freedman said.</p><p>Medicare is not the only health care overseer paying attention to infections and their costs.</p><p>The United Kingdom's government-run health care system also now imposes penalties for hospitals that exceed established quotas for HAIs.</p><p>“These types of financial pain points are driving hospitals to look at technology like IntelligentM's to increase hand hygiene compliance, which is the No. 1 way to reduce health care-acquired infections,” Freedman said.</p><p>IntelligentM is in talks with hospitals in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and as far away as Asia.</p><p>Versus, the other company that monitors health care hygiene, started with an electronic labeling system used in more than 700 health care institutions, largely to keep track of where patients and care givers are.</p><p>Two years ago, however, Versus added the hand-washing monitoring system through a partnership with Georgia-Pacific Corp.</p><p>Its system is somewhat different than IntelligentM's, in that its sensors mainly connect worker badges to soap and foam dispensers and transmit data to a central database.</p><p>“Most hospitals believe their hand hygiene is at the 90 percent level, when in fact, it is more in the 30 to 40 percent level,” Versus' Bertschy said.</p><p>The current Versus hand-washing monitor does not know how well workers wash their hands, but it will remind them if they haven't checked in at a soap dispenser at the appropriate time.</p><p>“It is really about saving lives, when you get down to it,” Bertschy said. “To make sure my grandmother, who went in for one procedure, that she doesn't get some type of infection that prevents her from coming home to celebrate another birthday.”</p>